Quote:
Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
The paradox in reality television was that it did lower costs substantially for the studios and open up a whole new revenue stream. But in so doing, television dumbed itself down just in time for the internet to enter the stage and show equally dumb programming to the public (Drudge, Gawker, etc..). Television didn't protect its advantage.
It's only a matter of time until the net figures out a way to start pumping out reality shows of comparable quality. And on the net, the banner ads can't be ignored with TiVo.
I have to confess, by the way, I hate-- No, loathe, reality television, in its almost every incarnation. Sure, I can watch a few minutes of America's Most Smartest Model because Ben Stein is hysterical, but I cannot stomach five minutes of Survivor or Real World or even Beauty and the Geek. It's always the same platform - cringe as fools embarrass selves. It's a very limited punchline.
I think the reason for the success of reality television is it makes the people who watch it feel a lot better about themselves. That kind of creeps me out.
|
I think that the reality thing was one of many factors that actually made television better. Scripted television these days is so much better written than in the days when there were three networks and there was no competition for a viewer's attention. Shows on cable, reality shows, stupid ass gameshows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire resulted in a far superior television product over a broader spectrum than five, ten, fifteen years ago. Cheap reality fails in making money over and over again for the studios, but the good quality scripted stuff endures into syndication and DVD sales.
Used to be that there were one or two well written shows out there that offered the viewer complex story lines with multiple interesting characters. That's not the case these days. Used to be that once an actor broke out of TV and into the movies, there was no turning back to the small screen. That's not the case these days. Used to be that episodic tv was the sole province of soap operas. That's not the case these days.
Sure, there's still a lot of crap on TV, but there's also a LOT of good stuff out there that's well written, fairly well acted, and engaging to the viewer. I think that reality television was helpful in generating a better quality product.
